This invention relates generally to game playing, and more particularly, to interactive visual games with anonymous laser pointers.
Pointing is one of the simplest ways for a person to indicate his wishes or to convey information to others. Pointing to a projected image is one of the most common aids to conversation, instruction, and cooperative effort. Pointing devices include fingers, pointing sticks, and other mechanical and illuminated instruments, light pens, touch pads, computer mice, touchscreens, and other electromechanical and electronic pointers.
Pointing may be direct pointing along a line of sight to a target, for example, when a pointing device is directly aimed at a portion of display of a radiated or otherwise projected image, or indirect pointing, as when a mouse is manipulated to control the position of an image of a pointer on a display, without pointing the mouse itself at the display. When the pointing is directed to a place on an object which is being shown on an electronic display, e.g., to a displayed icon, the act of pointing must be linked by some sort of electronic processing to the target icon.
Self-contained, hand held laser pointers which generate laser beams for use as a pointer are well known in the art and widely used in numerous applications. Typically, a hand held pointer is designed to look like a writing pen or key chain, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,188. Self-contained laser beam generators of this type are produced in substantial quantities to meet a well established demand for hand held pointer applications such as fishing, golfing, bowling, leveling, and pool.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,361 describes a pointer interface for natural human interaction with a display-based system. The system includes detectors to determine selection of particular displayed images by laser pointers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,453,758 describes a car racing game where a car and a steering wheel are displayed, and the movement of the car is controlled by a laser pointer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,182 describes a board game, which utilizes lasers. Players selectively divert the path of laser beams. The board apparatus includes an enclosed chamber with X-shaped pieces to deflect an incident laser beam from a row or column to a corresponding column or row. A scoring module, sensitive to incident laser light, is positioned in the chamber in front of each player. The players alternate in placing deflecting pieces in the chamber with the object to either direct their laser beams toward the opponent""s scoring module or to prevent their opponent""s laser beams from reaching their own scoring module.
Most prior art laser games, or for that matter, laser pointer applications, are for individual identified users. It is desired to provide a game where a large number of anonymous players can use laser pointers in cooperative or competitive game playing.
The invention provides an image processing system that enables the manipulation of individual anonymous laser pointers in interactive visual games. The system includes a display system that displays a stored or generated image on a display screen. A camera acquires a sequence of images of the display screen.
Participants in the game aim individual laser pointers at the display screen. The laser pointers project dots on the screen. A warp module corrects the acquired sequence of images for camera distortion. A registration module registers the corrected sequence of images with the stored image, and modifies the displayed image in response to a distribution of the laser dots on the display screen. The system can be used for shape forming games, as well as for games that move objects around on the screen according to the distribution of the laser dots.
As a unique feature of the invention, unlike traditional laser pointer games, the present invention makes no association between an individual laser dot on the display and the particular laser pointer that generates the dot. In a typical game, hundreds or thousands of players can simultaneously aim their laser pointers. What the invention is concerned with is the overall distribution of all of the pointers, and not the aiming of any one particular laser. In that sense, the playing is essentially anonymous, unlike prior art laser games, where the exact aiming point of a single laser is of prime concern.